tv@list.co.uk
UOMI siic Aausr STASON
HITTING HOME: TREVOR AND LITTLE MO 8801. Sun 16 Feb. 6.15pm 000
Statistically, one in four women in the UK are subjected to domestic abuse. sort stands to reason that one of the Slater girls would become a Victim. A string of dramatic storylines has entwuied li’istE/iders' most notorious family since their arrival. but none more so than the vrolent marriage of Trevor and l rttle Mo.
For two years. the nation looked on in disbelief as the vrcrous cycle of battery and apology went round and round. But. as the soap's exhaustive research bears out. it's an all-too common scenario. Part of the Hitting Home season focussrng on domestic abuse in all its guises. Trevor and Little Me is essentially a pat on the back for the programme's producers. congratulating them on a iob well done. And if. as the representative from Refuge says. the storyline saved lives. singing the praises of a soap opera may well be in order for once.
(Kelly Apterl
IRAVL'L DOCUMENTARY AIRCRASI-I Channel 4, Mon 17 Feb, 9pm 0000
This first of a threepart series deals wrth 'impact'. both of a physical and psychological nature. Six
stimi‘.'ors from six different crashes lall American; talk candidly about their experiences of being deep in the heart of genuine terror. This is a World of Wonder production, the intrigurng company behind Jon Ronson's documentaries. and his former cameraman John Sargeant is in the director’s chair.
Sargeant has clearly been deeply influencer by the work of Errol Morris as we get lots of evocative sub-Philip Glass sounds coupled With stylised head shots where the interwewees look as though they've been handcuffed to their seats. None of this is strictly necessary. of course. as the stories and real footage are so stunningly compelling that all the stylistic trimmings in the world won't provrde any more gravrtas. For those that can stomach it. this is a fascrnating flight into fear. (Paul Dale)
HEAL TH INVESTIGATION THE FOOD POLICE
BBC1. Wed 19 Feb, 8.30pm 000.
This graphic insight into the horrors of dodgy food production and its consequences should come With its own government health warning. Don't watch while tucking into Supper on a tray. espeCralIy if you've been looking forward to that draw cut of rump steak.
The foul (or rather, fowl) inaugural episode follows various food safety experts as they investigate corrupt chicken processors who are trying to undercut legitimate wholesalers wrth shoddy goods. Particularly compelling,
Aircrash has real impact
in a car crash kind of way. is environmental health officer Sue Nixon's delvrng into sinister goings-on at the inappropriately (:OSy sounding Bungalow Farm. A raid on this death-trap. run by Mick the Chick (I kid you not). reveals decomposing. disease-ridden carcasses. rife With flies eggs and rat droppings. that have been cleaned up and sold in shops and from Mick's own salmonella-mobile.
If this footage doesn't have you boakrng into yOur sleeve. it'll certainly make yOu reconsider your eating habits. (Allan Radcliffe)
HISTORY DOCUMENTARY
BRITAIN BC Channel 4, Thu 20 Feb, 9pm 00
With the current fad for hist0ry. we've been dazzled by a host of charismatic presenters. Simon Scharna. DaVid Starkey and that little scamp. Tony Robinson.
have all helped make the
subject exerting. And although I'm not averse in princrple to men wrth ginger beards. when they start muffling Out bitter Opinions about how mighty Britain was before the Romans you start to feel uneasy. Francis Pryor has an agenda: to prove that Britain was a ‘thrivrng maritime sooety' before those pesky Romans got their hands on our roads. It seems that this axe has been grinding Since Pryor's school days and he has dedicated his life to uncovering the truth. Apart from the distinctly naff 70s feel to
the production. its warm .‘lav. :s that the :‘h ps w our hosts shoulters weigh down the exploration It's not unlike being hatterea down ‘.'.’Illl a tag haii‘, ginger clutt.
iRuth Hedgesi
COME [)Y DOCI JME‘N TAR‘Y
STAND UP AMERICA BBC2. Sat 22 Feb 10.30pm 000
Billed as a histor\y of standup comedy from across the pond. this interesting and mildly diverting documentary presented in distinctly
POE' TRY DRAMA ESSENTIAL POEMS BBC2, Fri 14 Feb. 7.30pm
har‘a| fashion h. the ut‘ guift‘us Mark lan‘ar'. Is a strange “and of a shout, Part social 'llt‘xlt‘l‘h part gag fest. Stam: (11‘ America wakes stats at explaining the rise of sage remedy in the US. but then rte-.ei seen‘s to follow up its own leads The tiest I‘llS. lllf?‘.'ltélll|’.. are the archrxes and talking heads. This first snow deals \‘Jltlt the original post war stand ups such as Bob Hope lllti years young in Ma, r. Milton Berle. Sid Caesar and Phyllis Diller, and the old clips of each are guaranteed to have you
"“ .. {.1
rolling about A trip to Hope's ioke :ault l‘.‘.llt‘lt‘
He keeps men gag he}; exer toldi is a real eye opener. but again. not enough is made of opportunities like this An intriguing liut irritatineg incomplete stud‘. of a fascinating strand of show business
i[)oug .lohnstonei
Daisy’s got poetry cornered
The Beeb have been trying out a few intriguing dramatic experiments of late. There was the recent short series of Afternoon Plays and the excellent performances witnessed in the Great Britons series, not to mention Robson Green summoning up all the aesthetic effort he could muster when
squeezing out a line or tw
o in Trust.
But Essential Poems, a season of love stanzas launched on Valentine's Day. is as tasty as any of the above. Daisy Goodwin has harshly been dubbed the Nigella Lawson of literature (she has a blank, smiley, posh manner with brown hair probably washed in vats of lavender and avocado cream shampoo with flesh poking out from places you wouldn’t have previously considered peering at) but her grasp of poetic history is on a par
with Nigella’s coq au vin.
But the real joy of this series lies in the actorly talent the producers have rustled up to narrate and act out these fictional briefs. Much chuckling will no doubt need to be suppressed when Amanda Holden reads the slightly bitter ‘Bloody Men’ by Wendy Cope before a packed throng of schoolgirls, but Liza Tarbuck does a better rendition of a lovelorn lady with Nina Bourne's ‘Where the Single Men Go in Summer’. loan Gruffudd, Damian Lewis and Sam West bring a heavyweight RADA blokishness to their selections and the whole thing almost makes you want to dig out the poetry canon you violently rejected at secondary school. Almost.
(Brian Donaldson)
13—27 Feb 2003 THE LIST 109